The MOCReN Code of Conduct is a living document. This is version 3.0, updated October 2026. By engaging with MOCReN, we expect you to comply with this code of conduct by being open-minded or enthusiastic towards these values, aiming to enact them with care and consideration. Rejecting or undermining these values acts against the spirit of our community, and we may ask you to leave.
Our events should feel inclusive, safe, welcoming, and comfortable for everyone.
This is the most important of our values, and the hardest to get right! MOCReN members believe that successful research events are ones where new ideas are generated, friendships and connections are made, and all scholars feel recognised, respected, and well-supported to participate. We are enthusiastic about finding ways to make our events more equitable and accessible. Let us know how.
While we believe every scholar trying to align with these values deserves a fair hearing, we treat discrimination, bullying, and harassment seriously, and will not tolerate such behaviour. If something feels ‘off’ to you, it is off. Tell us by emailing mocren.hello@gmail.com or filling out this report form (either providing contact details or confidentially, whichever you prefer).
Participation and collaboration should be open-minded, curious, playful, friendly, and mutually respectful.
We encourage you to focus on areas of research that you find important, rewarding, and fun. Academia can often feel stern and stuffy. While we recognise some subjects need to be approached seriously, we also embrace opportunities to be silly. Inspired by queer thinking, we endorse experimentation, creative methods, and playful approaches to understanding music and online cultures. Equally, we discourage intellectual condescension (e.g., music taste-policing, disciplinary hierarchies) and imperialist thinking (e.g. privileging some cultural or geographical contexts over others).
We should identify, discuss, and challenge academic power disparities.
MOCReN actively welcomes scholars of all career stages and identities, and believes that our field is made far richer by a diversity of expertise and lived experience. Further, we feel that our research environments are most successful when people consider their own respective privileges and give space to those who can be marginalised in academic discussions. Although naming power relations or analysing interpersonal exchanges can be uncomfortable, we encourage it as part of a critically reflexive research practice. This should be done in a civil, scholarly manner; we will not get everything right all the time, and this is ok too.
At MOCReN events, English is not the first language of all (or even most) attendees, so we ask everyone to be considerate toward language differences and to extend grace and kindness when addressing any misinterpretations that may occur in discussions. We remind participants that ‘canonical’ texts, software, methods or field-specific acronyms may not be evenly known to all participants, and encourage everyone to be thoughtful about how they create space for questions in the spirit of making their research accessible to others. Presenting research material which may be particularly upsetting to others should be approached with sensitivity and care.
We should discuss our values with others.
This code asks a lot of participants, particularly regarding interpersonal openness. It contests academic expectations regarding hierarchy, authority, and prestige. However, we have received feedback from MOCReN event attendees that having a clear code enables deeper, richer, and more rewarding professional collaboration. We therefore encourage participants—however early-career or senior they feel—to unmask, and be as honest and present as they can. A level playing field for everyone is, well, level. And it helps us cultivate the kind of inclusive community we want.
In the spirit of discussing these values and updating them over time in response to feedback: get in touch at mocren.hello@gmail.com if there’s something you’d like to suggest!